Chef Shuttle coming Downtown + Saturday news

The Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog had some exciting news for Midtowners and Downtowners yesterday. Chef Shuttle is expanding to those neighborhoods effective next Thursday. The way it works is, you view menus from participating restaurants and then make your order with Chef Shuttle. They go and pick up your food and deliver it to you in about an hour. It will give Downtowners a lot more restaurant delivery options.

Miss Cordelia’s is holding a special sweetheart edition of their Saturday market today from 12 to 4. They have a dozen roses for $16.99, arrangements $14.99-$39.99, and elegant bouquet wrapping for $1. They also have gift baskets, sweets, treats, and some Valentine’s dinner for two choices.

The 2016 Memphis in May Fine Arts poster honoring Canada is out. Here’s a look.

Crazy story I read on Bleacher Report yesterday during my lunch break: The state of Louisiana is in the middle of a budget crisis, and if an agreement is not reached, state schools could be forced to shut down on April 30, before the end of the spring semester. Students would receive grades of Incomplete, many would not graduate on time, and LSU’s football team would be ineligible to compete for the 2016 season. Daaaamn. The SEC may be a 13-school conference for football in the fall.

In other SEC news, the sexual assault and gender discrimination allegations against the University of Tennessee football team continue to be in the news. The Nashville Scene demands an investigation into how our tax dollars have supported the rape-a-palooza culture of UT athletics:

UT owes us, the taxpayers who are apparently paying for rape-apalooza, a sincere and thorough investigation into just what the fuck is going on there. And then every employee who knew something but did nothing should be fired. If it turns out to be true that Drae Bowles was attacked twice by his own teammates, anyone still on the team who was on the team when that happened should no longer be with UT. If it turns out that the coaches knew or watched it happen, they all should be gone.

Remember how the Penn State board of trustees removed Joe Paterno when he wouldn’t step down as head football coach? The corresponding body at the University of Tennessee may need to look at taking the same action against Butch Jones.

Representatives of the Memphis Farmers Market attended the @PickTNProducts conference this week. They tweeted that they learned a lot there.

Barry Manilow was rushed to the hospital following Wednesday’s FedExForum show. He was suffering from complications from oral surgery he had earlier in the week.

The Land Use Control Board has approved three new Downtown hotels. Two will be across Union from AutoZone Park, and the third will be at Second and Vance. Total number of rooms added to Downtown will be around 375.

More on the Tigers attendance situation from CA columnist Geoff Calkins. Current average attendance at Tigers men’s basketball home games is 5889. If it does not get up to 6000 by the end of the year (3 home games left), the Grizzlies will not have to pay the U of M any of the expected $800,000. If attendance remains below 6000 average for two years, the Grizzlies can terminate the lease.

One of my favorite local writers, Skippy “Christopher” Blank, posted an 1866 map of the South Main area. There was a cemetery called Morris Cemetery bounded by Main, Butler, Calhoun (G.E. Patterson), and Causey (Second). Mulberry and St. Martin dead-ended north of Butler at the time. Next time you’re in Double J, or Scoops, or South Main Sushi, or Rizzo’s, you may be dining with ghosts. Hey, you remember when the owners of that courtyard across from Max’s Sports Bar dug it up a couple of years ago and then abruptly stopped? Perhaps we now know why.

Hmmm that cemetery would make a good Ask Vance question. I’m friends with him on Facebook, maybe I’ll hit him up.

From Distractify: A custom mold of your anus is the perfect gift to give your significant other on Valentine’s Day

Great night with friends last night. We started at the Silly Goose, our combined Moody Ques/Squeal Street group taking up the entire bar at one point. From there some of us migrated south to Max’s Sports Bar. I have been hanging out at Max’s a lot these past couple of months and have really been enjoying the place. I have always called it my “home away from home on the south side” but since about December it has felt more like a home than ever.

Today I will start of at the closest of my homes away from home, Bardog Tavern, for beers with my “DAWG” John D. For my second stop, I’m undecided between heading south for catfish Benedict at Rizzo’s, or going to see my favorite pair of librarian glasses at the Blind Bear. Plans after that TBD. Next week is a big week at work, so I better make the most of my time off while I can. Back tomorrow with more news and perhaps a Saturday recap post.